


Hexed

by thosewhowearplaid



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Drabble, M/M, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-05
Updated: 2017-09-05
Packaged: 2018-12-24 04:07:55
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 17,730
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12004683
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thosewhowearplaid/pseuds/thosewhowearplaid
Summary: Just the typical Marauder life - Remus getting hexed and forgetting the thing that made many people's days.





	Hexed

“Oi, Moony!”

“Moony, come on.”

“Remus!”

Several voices suddenly made their way to Remus’ focus, his exhausted mind filled with the voices of his friends. With aching bones and a mind splitting headache, he slowly opened his eyes. He looked and focused on the 3 boys standing around his bed as they all stared at him.

“Finally! We’ve been trying to wake you up for _hours_ ,” Sirius claimed dramatically as he brushed his long, black hair out of his face.

Remus, scrunched up his nose in disbelief, looked towards James. “He’s lying. But come on, mate. Breakfast is ready, and we’ve got transfiguration in 20.”

The boy in the bed cursed quietly and quickly jumped out of his bed, and watched as his friends all quickly took a few steps back towards their own beds as they watched the frantic boy get ready. “Has anyone seen my…” Remus begun to ask, before he was quickly interrupted by Peter handing him his tie. “Thanks, Peter,” he took the tie with a smile at his friend.

Sirius was sitting with his back to the head of his own bed, with a slight smile plastered on his lips as he watched his friend scurry about their dorm to get ready. They had all shared their dorm for a few years now, as they had recently begun their 6th year at Hogwarts. Sirius Black looked around the room and looked at his friends, his beloved friends. James Potter, the brother he had always wanted, was laughing at Remus with the fantastic grin that everyone loved. Peter Pettigrew, his cunning and amazing friend, was sitting at the end of James’ bed as he shouted and pointed Remus in the direction of the things he needed. He loved his friends, his friends were the reason he was okay, alive. Sirius had spent many holidays over at the Potter’s, they welcomed him into their home as he was their own, and he was truly grateful. All 4 of them had spent countless nights crowded in James’ room, playing muggle games with a twist from the wizarding world, drinking bottles of butterbeer. Laughter erupted through the house, as love and happiness removed all the sadness and sorrow that went through Sirius Black. He owed his friends his life.

“Ready?” James asked Remus, pulling Sirius out of his trance. He looked at James as he pushed his glasses up his nose to their rightful place, as he also _tried_ to fix the mop of his hair. Sirius scoffed lovingly, before looking at Remus. His uniform and robes as neat as ever, his cheeks were tinted with a bit of red, along with his scars sitting promptly upon his face.

“Ready,” Remus huffed with a small smile. Everyone nodded in reply and they jumped off their beds with grins, their stomachs grumbling as they thought of breakfast.

 

As they made their way to the Great Hall, people whistled and tried to grab their attention. _The Marauders_ , the most popular group of friends in the whole school. But of course, the boys all got their own separate attention from specific girls. Guys wanted to be them, girls wanted to date them (and more than a handful of girls wanted to be them and guys wanted to date them).

“Hey, James, I was wondering if you wanted to go to Hogsmeade with me next week?” A petite girl with long blonde hair asked.

James looked at the girl with a smile, and caring eyes. But before he could have mustered up an excuse, Peter jumped next to him and smiled at the girl, “sorry, he’s already fawning over a girl who hates his guts.”

James glared at his short friend and then turned back to the girl and nodded, “I’m sorry.”

The girl smiled and shrugged her shoulders, “that’s okay. It was a long shot anyway.” She smiled once more before turning on her heel and skipping down the corridor and towards the Great Hall.

“Wormtail, you could have spared us both that embarrassment,” James muttered as his ruffled Peter’s hair, as they continued walking.

Peter laughed and walked alongside his friend, “sorry, Prongs.”

Sirius, being the pure-blood son of the Blacks who were known for their historic reign in Slytherin, who was sorted in Gryffindor, with his long, black hair and his mysterious attitude and fantastic flirting skills; he, off course, attracted the most attention from the girls, and even some guys. He walked alongside Remus, and continued their conversation as he winked at the girls fawning over him as he walked past them. The girls’ cheeks were splashed with red and pink, as they giggled and dramatically spoke to their friends.

“You love it, don’t you,” Remus muttered with a roll of his eyes.

“Love what?” Sirius asked, turning away from a girl he had just smirked at.

With another roll of his eyes, Remus replied, “the attention. You love that nearly all the girls in this school want to throw themselves at you.”

Sirius chuckled and looked at his friend with his signature smirk and flick of his tongue, his eyes glistening as he spoke to his friend, “please, Moony, it’s not only the girls.”

Remus ignored the rapid beating in his chest as Sirius looked at him the way he did, and sighed, brushing off his comment. They carried on walking and Remus tried, but failed, to ignore the looks Sirius gained and the ones he returned.

As they all approached the doors of the Hall, Sirius cleared his throat and with an exasperated roll of the eyes from James, he stopped at the door. Remus and Peter sighed and moved to the side with James; Sirius smiled, ran a hand through his hair and pulled open the two doors as they opened with a loud creak and scraping against the floor. All eyes in the Great Hall quickly snapped onto Sirius as he smiled and bowed, before walking into the Hall and towards where the Marauders usually sat. The rest of the boys followed suit and rolled their eyes at Sirius’ dramatic behaviour. The boys all sat and began filling their plates with enough food, but also not too much food that they wouldn’t be able to eat in time for their first class of the day. They ate and laughed, and five minutes before they were supposed to leave, Lily Evans and her friend Marlene joined them.

“Ah, Evans, did you miss me in the common room?” James asked with a cock of his eyebrow and his familiar grin.

Lily looked at the boy next to her and smiled sarcastically, “of course, Potter. I missed the birds nest.”

James furrowed his eyebrows and swatted at his head as Sirius leaned over the table and ruffled James’ hair. Yet, much too her despise, Lily couldn’t help but smile ever so softly at the boy. Marlene giggled flirtatiously as Sirius winked at her. “Hey, Black. Stop trying to shag all of my friends,” Lily huffed jokingly.

“Please, Evans, you need to tell your friends to stop wanting to shag me,” Sirius teased playfully. “Besides,” he continued, “we share friends, and I don’t want to shag _all_ of them.”

Lily laughed, “you sure? Because I know out of our friends, there’s definitely one you wouldn’t mind.” But as she finished speaking, Marlene quickly elbowed her red-headed friend, quickly telling her to stop talking.

The Marauders quickly looked around each other with unknowing looks, before their eyes all falling back onto Lily and Marlene. “What is it?” James asked, he turned in his seat to fully face Lily, as she quickly turned back from Marlene.

“Nothing,” the girls both muttered quickly.

“Evans,” Sirius spoke with a voice that stung with superiority, but also with confusion and innocence.

Lily failed to meet Sirius’ eyes, she knew that if she made eye contact with the boy, she would not be able to keep her mouth sealed. But luckily for her, McGonagall came quickly gliding towards their section of the table. “Come on, you four,” she addressed the Marauders, “class starts in 2 minutes.”

“You’ll never be able to live without me, will you, Professor?” Sirius asked, as he rested his chin against the back of his hands.

McGonagall fought back a smile as the boy spoke, the boy with so much light. For the 5 years she had taught the boys, she had become very accustomed to the jokes and pranks they issued. She would have rather been caught dead than to admit she loved the Marauders in her own special way. “What fun would life be then, Sirius?”

Sirius smiled up at her, and nodded subtly enough that she was the only person to see it. It was a habit of theirs, as Sirius was the _only_ person in the whole school she addressed purely only by their first name. This was due to her first week teaching Sirius in his first year, she noticed that every time she addressed Sirius with _Mr Black_ or _Black,_ his whole body twitched sadly or fearfully, or his quill snapped against his parchment with the tremor in his hands. And so, every day after that first week, Sirius Black was always just Sirius to McGonagall. Everyone knew, of course, but no one had the heart to mention it – it meant too much to Sirius, and so everyone held their tongues and allowed their friend to be happy, and not to be burdened by the harsh reality of his last name.

As McGonagall walked away, the group all made eye contact and shrugged their shoulders before collecting their stuff and they all quickly made their way to their transfiguration class, James’ favourite.

However, for the first time in a while, James couldn’t concentrate on the class. His eyes and mind were merely focused on Remus. Remus and Peter sat at the desk in front of the desk that he and Sirius shared, but Remus wasn’t taking as much notes down as usual, his quill rested untouched upon his parchment, and his chin rested in his cupped hands. His back was hunched and he only ever spoke when McGonagall asked him a question. “Hey, Pads.” James whispered quietly to his left.

Sirius looked up from the doodle he had created on his own parchment and quickly looked at James, “yeah?”

“What’s up with Moony?” James asked, just as quietly as before.

Sirius, oblivious to what James was talking about, furrowed his eyebrows and shook his head, “what do you mean?”

James nodded towards Remus, and watched as Sirius’ eyes traced their friend in front. Sirius, undoubtedly, noticed the same deductions as James. “He seemed okay earlier?” Sirius muttered as he turned back to face his friend.

“I’ll ask him about it at lunch,” James frowned. He hated the idea of his friend, any of his friends, being upset. His friends meant the world to him and James would have given anything up for them, regardless of the price he had to pay.

Sirius nodded in response and his eyes traced back to Remus, he didn’t know what was wrong with him – but he knew that with the friends they shared, they weren’t going to drop it till Remus was okay again. But he was quickly thrown out of his thoughts as a voice dragged him back to reality.

“Mr Snape,” McGonagall spat, “would you care to repeat that to the rest of the class?”

All heads were spun around to the back of the room where Severus Snape sat, or _Snivellus_ as the Marauders liked to call him. Severus sat with his dark eyes glaring towards the front of the class, as a sneer was plastered onto his face. Ever since Lily Evans had _broken up_ with Severus, his attitude towards everyone and everything had changed – or perhaps, his views on certain things had increased. He was more detestable than ever, even the professors found it hard to be in the same room as him; especially Professor McGonagall.

“Well?” McGonagall pressed. Her eyes piercing sharply into Severus’, and by the seriousness in her voice and actions, everyone could instantly tell that what he said had something to do with his pressing views on muggle-borns.

But before anyone else could have spoken, a dark-haired girl from Slytherin, who was seated next to Severus, stood up. “He said that filthy mudbloods don’t belong here just as much as certain furry creatures,” her voice was laced with venom as her words spat out towards the class.

Remus, who had remained facing the front, twitched and turned in his seat. He saw his three best friends staring at him with worry, and anger. McGonagall was frozen in shock, as well as the rest of the class. No one knew how to react as the Slytherin girl remained standing with her arms folded across her chest. Remus locked eyes with the girl and he scoffed before turning back in his seat.

“Something wrong, _Lupin_?” She spat disgustedly as she addressed the boy.

With a sigh, he turned back in his seat and looked at the girl. “Yes, but not something a _filthy_ bigot like you could solve. You know, as you and the rest of your friends live with a few less brain cells.”

The whole class chuckled and Peter patted Remus on the back proudly as he turned back around to face the front. Sirius and James cheered for their friend, as the girl sat back down grumpily next to Severus. But the class was quickly silenced, as McGonagall cleared her throat. “Detention for you, Parkinson and you, Snape.”

Both Slytherins’ faces dropped, and their arguments were stopped in their throats by McGonagall’s sharp eyes.

 

“Always knew you had a smart mouth, Lupin,” Ashley spoke softly, as she sat down next to Remus in the Great Hall during lunch. All eyes looked up to the blonde-haired girl, the boys were used to girls coming up to them at lunch but most of the girls who had spoken to Remus were always the shy girls in the Gryffindor common room.

“Uh, hello, Ashley,” Remus replied awkwardly.

Ashley had long blonde hair, which she had worn in a braid with blue flowers scattered through. She was a Ravenclaw, and her dazzling blue eyes attracted attention from every boy who saw her – though, their eyes always seemed to slowly scan _lower_ places. “You don’t mind me eating lunch with you, do you? Only, my friends have made it quite obvious I need to thank you for what you said in transfiguration.”

It took Remus a little while to focus on what she had said, before he smiled. “You’re a muggle-born?”

“Yes,” Ashley smiled.

“You know, Ashley, it’s about time someone started paying attention to Moony,” James smiled as he sat opposite Remus.

Ashley looked at James with shock before laughing, attracting more bewildered attention from the Marauders. “What?” Peter asked.

“You don’t know?” She asked, her eyebrows knitting together in amusement. The boys all looked at each other in confusion, before all shaking their head back at Ashley in answer to her question. She laughed once more, before sighing with a smile placed upon her laps. “Everyone pays attention to you, Remus. Some more than others. But – there are only a few which have the courage to come up and talk to you, it’s different with you. Those who go after Black love the attention and the flirting which comes from it; which, yes, is every girl in this entire school. But, you’re more of a quiet, mysterious kind of guy, and girls like that.”

The Marauders all stared in silence at the girl, taking in every word she had to say. “Hang on,” Sirius began, “people are too scared to talk to Moony?”

Ashley shrugged, “basically.”

“He organises his sock drawer, how can anyone be scared of _our_ Moony?” James began to laugh.

“That’s my point! We never know what to say, he’s sort of the innocent guy we all want to preserve yet totally make out with against a wall.” Ashley spoke with a smile and glint in her eyes.

But as she finished her sentence, the boys reacted differently. Peter dropped his fork onto his empty plate and looked around for someone to come out and shout she was joking. James spat his drink back into the cup he was drinking out of and began to laugh. Sirius froze and stared at Ashley with wide eyes, eyes as wide and dark as a cloudy night. And, Remus. Remus coughed and spluttered as his breath got stuck in his throat – his stomach dropped and his mind went hazy. “What?” The 4 boys suddenly gasped.

The blonde-haired girl stared at them all with shock and she began to laugh. “Is it really that hard to believe?”

“No, of course not,” Sirius spoke. “Look at him – who wouldn’t? But, why are you suddenly telling him now?”

Remus’ head shot to look at Sirius as he sat next to him, along with the rest of the Marauders, before their eyes fell back to Ashley.

“Well, everyone’s talking about what you said today, Remus, everyone knows. And well, I wanted to be the first one in line to thank you – and to say hi.” Ashley winked at the boy, his curly hair resting neatly on top of his head, as his undercut defined his curls. Remus gulped loudly and he could feel his palms sweating profusely.

But as Remus hadn’t been in this situation before, he hadn’t the slightest idea what to say. And so, he was remotely grateful when James, who sat opposite him, had whispered, “Moony, tell her she can sit with you at lunch as much as she wants.”

Remus cleared his throat and began to repeat what James had said, before he stopped himself. “Moony?” Sirius whispered, as it came closely behind his ear.

“Uh,” Remus began again as he gulped, “I’m sorry, Ashley.”

The 3 boys looked at each other, before back to Remus, as Ashley did the same. “Sorry… for what?” She asked.

The boy smiled awkwardly as he rubbed the back of his neck, “I, uh… kind of have feelings for someone.”

Everyone silently stared at Remus, not knowing how to react or whether to believe him. No one knew about this, not even his best friends. But as his best friends realised this, they all quickly came to the conclusion that he didn’t want to pursue _anything_ with Ashley, and so, being the best friends they were, they stuck up for him. “Oh crap, I completely forgot – sorry, Ashley,” James began, smiling sadly at Ashley.

“I assumed you’d be over it by now, mate, sorry,” Peter spluttered.

Sirius nodded in the background and tried his hardest to bite his tongue, Remus was his best friend and he needed to stick up for him, but there was a sinking feeling in his stomach that he couldn’t help but feel.

“That’s okay, Remus. Let me know if and when that crush of yours is gone,” Ashley smiled and with a flick of her hair, she was gone.

The Marauders watched in silence as the girl walked off over to her own table, and to her own friends. Once she had sat down, Remus was able to breathe again. “Bloody hell,” he muttered and rubbed his face with shaking hands.

“Mate, are you okay?” James asked.

Remus removed his hands from his face and cleared his throat, “yeah, I’m fine,” he replied to James.

“Are you sure?” Peter asked, as he sat next to James and opposite Sirius.

Remus nodded in response before brushing their questions off and turning to Sirius, “you’re unusually quiet.”

Sirius looked at his friend beside him and smiled, “nothing really for me to say. You just brushed off an attractive girl and claimed you have feelings for someone, and I know that if I ask you if you’re okay, you’ll say yes and brush me off like you did with these two.”

“Uh, right,” Remus blinked repeatedly at his friend, not knowing what to say or what to do.

“Hey, Moony. _Do_ you have feelings for someone? It’s just, you got really awkward and red, and you only do that when you’re telling a secret.” Peter asked, as his eyes were fixed intently on Remus.

For once in a very long time, the group of best friends were serious, and they all knew that a question this serious needed time to think over. But as Remus looked between his friends, his heart felt as if it was going to explode. “I don’t know,” he muttered, dropping his head into his hands.

“It’s okay if you do, Moons. It’s normal, you don’t have to hide from it. We’re all here for you and we’ll help you get through it,” James smiled. He was always the mother of the group.

“I could teach you how to flirt, we all know I’m great at it,” Sirius winked.

Remus laughed at his friends, as Peter nodded enthusiastically. But his smile was quickly dropped when the question he dreaded was asked: “Who is it?” And of course, it had to be the quiet and innocent Peter that asked, the Peter that always got the truth from whomever he wanted it from, just simply by the innocence in his eyes and the smile.

His heart started to beat more rapid than before, and he could feel his throat get dry. “It’s complicated,” Remus croaked. His eyes fell to the now empty table, and he fiddled with his hands in his lap.

Peter looked around at his friends, which all shared the same looks as they watched the nervous Remus. “Remus, we’re your best friends. You can tell us anything,” Peter said.

“I know, I know. I just don’t know if I’m sure. I just need to be sure with myself before I tell you guys, I’m sorry.” His voice was sad and confused, and his friends immediately wanted to reassure him and tell him that everything was going to be okay.

“That’s okay, mate. Don’t rush it, just tell us when you’re ready,” Sirius placed his hand supportively on the other boy’s shoulder, and squeezed it for reassurance. Remus met Sirius’ grey eyes, and they shone brightly into his. For a moment, both boys didn’t want to look away, but the gnawing feeling in both of their stomachs made them tear their eyes away from each other.

“Thank you,” Remus started as he looked around his friends, “all of you.”

 

Later that night, their dorm room was filled by the soft snores that emitted from Peter Pettigrew. His dark blonde hair falling softly against his soft forehead, as his nose crumpled with each snore that left his small body. Peter was the smallest out of his friends, not in width but in length. Peter had recently begun to put on weight – not a lot, but a small amount. He was still the cheerful boy his friends had knew and he had promised them, more than once, that he would never change. He was, after all, their Wormtail.

But as the snores disposed the room’s silence, Sirius lay awake. He stared at the ceiling, his part of the ceiling was unlike the others. It was full of posters, muggle’s band posters. Many were of his own choice, mainly to rebel against his parents. But some, some were recommended by Remus – and they were the bands which were his favourite, they were the ones that were on the posters on his ceilings. He didn’t know why they were on the ceiling, but James often teased that he subconsciously put them there so he always had Remus on his mind when he couldn’t sleep. And at that moment, as he stared at the posters over him, the only thoughts that ran through his mind were Remus. He just wanted to sleep. He didn’t know why he couldn’t sleep, but every time he closed his eyes, they were thrown back open all over again. The pit in his stomach he felt at lunch was still there, but it was worse – it was getting a lot worse. He felt as if he was missing something, but he couldn’t figure out what it was. Sirius was used to feeling alone and as though something was missing, but this felt different and he wished it would go away. And with that thought, he groaned and rubbed his eyes viciously.

“Sirius?” A small voice whispered in the dark.

Sirius removed his hand from his eyes and sighed, “if this is a ghost, piss off, I’m not in the mood.” A laugh was heard, and that laugh was the most memorable thing he knew – the most comfortable thing he knew. “Remus?”

“Yeah, it’s me. Can’t you sleep either?” Remus asked, his voice soft yet tired. His bed was next to Sirius’, so they were able to talk at a volume which was loud enough they were able to each other but they were not too loud that they woke the rest of their friends.

Sirius scoffed, “no. It’s driving me insane, what am I going to do without my beauty sleep?”

“Padfoot, by the sound of your voice I know you’re being serious – and that really concerns me,” Remus smiled into the darkness of their room.

Forgetting that Remus couldn’t see him, Sirius pressed his hand against his heart and faked a hurt expression across his face. “Don’t you think I’m pretty, Remus?”

“Ha,” Remus scoffed with a smile, rolling his eyes, “of course, Pads.”

“Don’t go breaking my heart, Moony.” Sirius smiled, and turned his head to face the direction of where Remus’ bed was.

Though, as the pair were joking and messing around as they usually were, Remus spoke softer than he had intended to, “I would never break your heart, Sirius.”

Sirius pondered over what Remus had said and how he said it for a moment, before silently telling his heart to calm down and stop acting like a _bumbling band of baboons._ And he replied, just as softly, “I would never break your heart, either, Remus.”

Remus gulped and took a deep breath, allowing the pit in his stomach to grow deeper before he decided to take the conversation into a more light-hearted place. “You sure, Padfoot? With all this flirting you do, I wouldn’t know the difference.”

With the teasing tone in his voice, Sirius knew he was joking. But somehow, Sirius wished they carried on their previous conversation and allowed it to become deeper, but perhaps they should have saved that for another night, he thought. “Forever my number one, Moonpie.”

Remus laughed softly and let out a little yawn, “what time is it?”

Sirius sat up and reached for his watch on his side table, it took a few seconds for his eyes to focus in the dark but once they did, he was able to read the time. With a sigh, he replied, “Quarter past three.”

A sigh was returned from the other bed, “we need to be up in 3 hours.”

“After lunch today, who do you think will get the first good morning?” Sirius asked, teasingly.

For the first time all day, Remus allowed himself to find the events at lunch quite funny. Hysterical actually. He smacked his hand in front of his mouth to try and limit the laughs that escaped him, to try and not wake his friends. “Bloody hell,” he laughed.

“Remus, sh!” Sirius whispered, as he held his own laughs in. It wasn’t his fault, he blamed it entirely on Remus. Remus’ laugh was contagious, and it was forever the best sound to gift Sirius’ ears.

“I’m sorry, I can’t help it!” He laughed harder.

“Remus, don’t make me come there and smother you. Padfoot and Wormtail would kill us for waking them up,” Sirius breathed, still holding back his own laughter. Remus suddenly stopped laughing as he realised his friend was right, and took a deep breath. But as he released the intake of air, he laughed once more. His whole body shook with laughter, and he was quickly smothered by hands. He could feel his bed shift with the weight from Sirius as he sat on Remus’ bed alongside him, “Remus, shut up,” Sirius whispered.

His eyes then focused in the dark and he saw Sirius leaning over him, his long hair covering parts of his face. His smile wide and happy as he held his hand over the boy’s mouth, his eyes wide with glee. Their eyes locked and Remus’ breath got stuck in his throat, and he no longer needed to laugh. Sirius’ grip over his mouth loosened and they both remained still, eyes locked onto each other’s. Both hearts were beating erratically and neither wanted to pull apart, not yet. But, as Sirius’ arm tingled, he felt it. He felt the warm breath under his hand as it was softly hovering over Remus’ mouth, and with a gulp, Sirius slowly removed his hand.

“Thanks,” Remus gulped softly and quietly.

Their eyes remained locked, and Sirius nodded slowly in return.

Suddenly, there was a stir of movement that came from Peter’s bed. Reality sunk back into the boys, and Sirius smiled at Remus before slowly getting off his bed and returning to his own. Not another word was spoken, not until the hand on Sirius’ watch ticked to 4 am. “Goodnight, Padfoot,” Remus spoke.

With a smile, “goodnight, Moony,” replied Sirius.

 

“Rise and shine, Marauders!” James shouted gleefully, as he threw the curtains open. Groans were heard from each bed as James began to get dressed, “come on, boys. Big day ahead!”

“Why, what’s so important about today?” Peter asked, as he scurried under the dark safety of his quilt.

“Ha!” James laughed, before skidding in his socks from his bed to Peter’s, “today, my dear Wormtail, is the day I ask Lily to go to Hogsmeade with me.” He tore back Peter’s quilt and watched as the boy coiled in on himself. “Come on, Wormtail, I need your help to wake the other two!”

Peter stretched out his legs and opened his eyes to see a grinning James staring at him, “it’s too early to be this happy, Prongs.”

James shook his head, but smiled as he watched Peter sit up and rub his eyes, waking up. And so, he moved on to the other two, the hardest two to wake up. He first slid to Remus’ bed, and jumped on to the foot of the bed. “Moony!” In return, Remus replied with a grunt. “Come on, Moons. Wake up!” James began to excitedly jump on his friend’s bed, repeatedly gaining groans from the sleeping boy.

Eventually, it became too much. “Fine, fine! I’m getting up,” Remus moaned, throwing his eyes open and pulling at his hair. Upon seeing James’ smile, Remus had immediately forgotten how abruptly he had been awoken and a smile made its way upon his own face. “Good luck in waking Padfoot, he didn’t get a lot of sleep.”

James smiled and jumped off Remus’ bed, and put his hands on his hips as he faced Sirius’ bed. “Now, what would be the most annoying way to wake up our little Snuffles?” He tutted and thought for a while.

“Could hex him?” Peter suggested, as he got dressed.

“Mean,” Remus commented, rubbing his eyes as he sat up tiredly.

James turned around and looked at Remus thoughtfully, before biting his lip. “Maybe…” He thought aloud, before shaking his head.

“Maybe what?” Remus asked, his head tilting to the side as he watched the clocks tick in James’ mind.

He smiled, “nothing, Moony. I don’t want to jinx things.”

But before Remus could have pressed anything further, an idea had already planted itself into James’ head, and Remus knew it was too late to ask any more questions. James moved over to his own bed and picked up the jug of water he had on his side table. You see, James could never sleep unless there was a glass or jug of water next to his bed, he would claim he would have died of thirst otherwise – even though the water was only rarely touched. Remus and Peter stopped what they were doing and watched with excited yet fearful eyes as James slowly and carefully carried the jug closer and closer towards Sirius’ bed. As he reached the head of the bed, James quickly turned the jug upside down and with a _splash_ the water fell right onto Sirius’ head.

He awoke with a start and quickly jumped up, his eyes wide with panic. But as his eyes and ears focused on his laughing friends, his mind quickly eased. “What the _hell,_ James?” He shouted.

James shook with laughter as he tried to splutter out his excuse, “you wouldn’t…have…woken up!”

Sirius tried to be angry, but alike Remus, seeing James’ smile made that impossible. So, he shook his head and tutted, “you just wait, Prongs. You’ll get it.”

The boys all quietened down and left Sirius to get ready, but as Remus stopped laughing and took in Sirius’ appearance, he gulped. Sirius had water dripping down his hair and face, as the water spilled down his shirtless chest. His chest that consisted of a tattoo Remus had not noticed before, it was a tattoo of a moon. Remus could tell instantly that it was a tattoo that changed according to the moon spectrum, and it was placed just above his heart. And even though it was the main thing that attracted his attention, he couldn’t help but notice that as Sirius stood up, the muscles in his stomach were becoming more prominent. His eyes were glued onto his body as he tried to memorise every piece of it.  But then, much to Remus’ horror, Sirius caught his gaze. He gulped loudly and visibly, but he still couldn’t release his eyes from Sirius’.

For the first time in forever, Sirius was nervous. He could feel the butterflies rattle in his stomach as he stood, eye-locked with Remus. He stood there, shirtless with a wet body and black jogging bottoms on. Sirius couldn’t move, his whole body had become numb and unmoving, he remained perfectly still – yet he could feel his hands shake, tremble. His breath was lodged in his chest and his heart was thumping quicker than a pack of rabbits. _Shit, shit, shit. This is not happening. Nope, no. This cannot happen,_ Sirius thought.

James whistled, “boys! Come on, snap out of it!” Sirius and Remus quickly snapped their eyes away from each other, and they turned to see James and Peter standing and staring at them with cocked eyebrows.

“Uh, right, sorry,” Remus muttered quickly before jumping out of his bed and towards his trunk.

Sirius cleared his throat and turned towards the bathroom to dry himself off, and to get changed. But as Sirius walked away, James quickly followed him and stalked him to the bathroom, as Peter stayed with Remus to interrogate him as James proceeded to do the same. “Uh, Moony, what the hell was that?” Peter asked quickly, as he sat on Remus’ bed.

Remus cleared his throat and proceeded to get dressed, “what was what?”

“Come on, don’t play dumb. What was _that_?” Peter asked, his eyes may as well have been searing holes in Remus' head.

“I don’t know,” Remus sighed quietly, sitting down on the top of his trunk, he hid his face in his cupped hands and groaned.

Peter looked down to his hands as they sat in his crossed lap, he spoke awkwardly, “do you have feelings for him?”

His head snapped up and Remus quickly turned around to face Peter, “for who? For Sirius?”

“Well, do you?” Peter asked, looking up to his best friend.

He took a deep breath, before turning back around and throwing his head back into his cupped hands. “No. Yes. I don’t know.”

“Jesus, Moony. Why didn’t you tell me before it got this bad?” A groan escaped Peter’s lips, as he fell back onto the bed.

Remus tried to bury his head into his hands even further, “I thought I’d be able to get over it. I didn’t think it’d get this bad.”

Peter felt a pang of guilt for his friend and sat up, he crawled to the end of the bed. As Remus was resting against the end of his bed, as he sat on his trunk, Peter leant forward and rested his hands on Remus’ shoulders, “it’ll be okay, mate. Don’t worry.”

 

“So, are you going to tell me what just happened or not?” James asked as he closed the door in the bathroom, locking just himself and Sirius in.

Sirius ran a hand through his wet hair, sighing, “I don’t know what happened.”

“You guys were basically having eye sex,” James laughed humourlessly.

“No,” Sirius started as he glared at his friend, “we weren’t.”

James looked at his friend and sighed, completely unaware of what to do. “Pads, you’re my brother. And I love you, but you’ve got to admit this to yourself now, it’s been too long.”

“What?” Sirius’ eyes went wide and he gulped, turning back around to rest his hands against the sink as he stared at himself in the mirror.

The boy with glasses walked slowly up to Sirius, and patted his back supportively. “You’re going to be okay, Sirius. You just need to admit it.”

“I can’t,” his voice was quiet and fearful.

James smiled and propped his glasses further up his nose, “Padfoot, you are the bravest person I know. You flirt with everyone person you lay eyes on, regardless of gender. Don’t let your fear prevent you from being happy.”

“But that’s it, James. I flirt. With everyone. How can I make him happy when all I do is flirt with everyone that passes? He doesn’t want to be with someone like that,” Sirius dropped his head.

“Sirius, if that was true, he would not have been looking at you like that,” a small smile was hinted on James’ lips as he spoke.

At that simple sentence, the sentence filled with hope, Sirius looked up into the mirror and met James’ eyes. His lips mirrored those of James’s and they both smiled, “I love him.”

 

The Marauders all stood at their desks, listening as Professor Slughorn explained in great detail how to create their potion. Their task was to create the potion perfectly and whoever could rightly name the potion, their house would have been awarded 50 points. And as their potions class shared 3 houses; Gryffindor, Slytherin and Ravenclaw, the award was much too high to pass.

“Right, pairs. Partners. Pairs. Let me think,” Slughorn tapped quickly on his desk as he thought. The class waited eagerly for their assigned partners, desperately wanting to create their potions and win their points. He looked around the class once more, “okay. Evans with Potter. Black and Lupin. Pettigrew with Snape.” He continued to spit out partners whilst they all quickly set up and began.

Sirius was exceptional at potions, it was his type of art. But that wasn’t surprising due to his family history and their art for potions. And so, that was _one_ of the reasons as to why Remus was happy to be partnered with Sirius. It was, unsurprisingly, quite awkward at the start but things soon started to return to normal. They teased each other as they worked, and they worked so incredibly well together. Their hands worked in harmony, their bodies passed easily as they grabbed the ingredients and worked together. Those who worked near them onlooked with jealously, as themselves and their partner constantly bumped into each other with their sweaty hands and bushy hair. The only couple that worked just as in harmony and ease was the famous James Potter and Lily Evans, of course. And the pair that worked the worse? Severus Snape and Peter Pettigrew, of course.

After a while, the makings of the potions were coming to an end. Many had clearly failed. Yet, a handful were minutes away from finishing the _correct_ potion. But as the end came near, tensions started to rise. “Heavens, Potter. Can you possibly use a little less of your cologne next time?” Lily muttered, though loud enough that the class heard.

“Well, perhaps, Evans, maybe you should use less of the shampoo you use.” James retorted.

But attention was then brought to the harmony workers. “Come on, Padfoot, have you even showered today? All I can smell is you.”

 A snort escaped Sirius, “Well, _Moony_ , all I can smell is you. So, perhaps, dear friend, it’s you.”

“Oh, God.” James muttered loudly, slapping his hand against his head repeatedly.

“Worked it out, have you, Potter?” Slughorn smirked and leant against his desk, with his arms folded across his chest. As Slughorn finished his sentence, silence erupted through the classroom as all eyes were on James.

James rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly, looking apologetically at his two best friends, and then guiltily at Lily. “It’s Amortentia,” he muttered.

Gasps were heard all over the classroom, as Slughorn clapped his hands. “That’s right! So, whatever you can all smell, that is what _you’re_ most attracted to.” He smiled at his class before adding, “and yes, Lily and James, we all heard what _you both_ smelt. As well as you both, Black and Lupin.”

Both pairs stared at the Professor with red cheeks and wide eyes, “fuck,” Sirius muttered.

“Indeed,” Lily replied.

The end of the class had become so awkward that the 50 points awarded to Gryffindor hardly changed the atmosphere. No one knew what to say or what to do, shock was filed in all of the students. _Remus Lupin and Sirius Black? But Sirius is the most, flirtatious guy in school, why his best friend? Lily Evans and James bloody Potter! She hates his guts._

The talk around the school was no longer what Remus had said to the Slytherin girl, but it had morphed into what Remus, Sirius, Lily and James had all found attractive. Of course, Lily had claimed it was a sort of mistake and brushed it off, whilst shouting at James and suggesting a hex she was next going to try on him if he asked her about it. Whilst James had deemed it necessary to talk about every chance he got; “She smelt me, she smelt _me._ Not Snivellus, not any other person – me! Evans is attracted to me.”

The Marauders tried their hardest to ignore what was going on between Sirius and Remus, for all their sakes, and decided to celebrate Lily _finally_ being attracted to James. That night in the common room, they did not celebrate lightly. James was jumping from the sofa to the armchair, with his glass of firewhiskey in his hand, as Sirius spoke to everyone and anyone in the room, Peter was curled up in front of the fire with a glass of butterbeer, whilst Remus tried his hardest to convince Lily it was not her doing and they were celebrating an early birthday. Lily, of course, was not oblivious and tried her hardest to hide the smile playing upon her lips – whilst Remus had drunk too much firewhiskey to notice.

Remus pushed James as he stood with each leg on the arm of the sofa and the arm of the armchair, and watched as he fell into the armchair with a _plonk_ and a smile. James smiled greatly and watched as Remus sat down on the sofa and sipped on his drink, as Lily then sat down next to him. “Alright, Evans?” James winked.

“You’ve had a bit too much to drink, Potter.” Lily rolled her eyes dramatically as a smile played upon her lips, “besides, I’m not here for you. I’m here to talk to Remus.”

“Don’t worry, James. We knew it was too good to be true, it’s always us who were destined to be together,” Sirius interrupted as he threw himself over James’ lap.

The group laughed and watched as Sirius made himself comfortable, and smiled as Sirius had his legs thrown over one side of the armchair and his head was resting upon James’ lap. “Of course, Pads. We’re to be married before the week is finished,” James smiled, looking down to his drunk friend, as he played with his long hair.

Sirius hummed contently in response and closed his eyes, he always enjoyed it when James played with his hair. Though, he always preferred it when it was Remus who was playing with it.

“So, what’s wrong, Lily?” Remus asked, turning to his right to face Lily.

“You could smell him, huh?” Her smile widened, as her voice quietened.

A blush crept upon his cheeks as he gulped, his head quickly spun around to face Sirius who was quietly talking to James. “Yes,” Remus whispered back to the girl.

“I knew it,” Lily looked at him the way she looked at her 100/100 marked essays.

“Come off it, Lils. It’s not like that,” Remus shook his head and ignored the sweat upon his brow. Lily cocked her eyebrow in response, which earned a sigh from the nervous boy. “Fine, yes, I like Sirius.”

Lily clapped her hands and jumped up, smiling widely. But as the common room was nearing empty, the few remaining students had all turned to face the red-headed girl. She smiled apologetically at her friends before sitting back down next to Remus, though all Marauders had not taken their eyes off her.

“Everything okay, Evans?” Sirius asked with a smirk, his position had not moved other than his head was tilted to the side so he could see Lily.

Remus’ face had gone red and Lily cleared her throat, “yes, everything’s fine.”

Sirius hummed in response before all attention was taken off Lily and was brought to Ashley as she propped herself on the arm of the sofa, sitting rather closely to Remus. “Alright there, Lupin?” Ashley asked, with a smirk.

Remus coughed awkwardly and sat up in his seat, “yes, thank you. Are you?”

The group of friends all stared at the two, as Sirius propped himself on his elbow, which was uncomfortably digging into James’ leg, to watch the interaction. “Yeah, I’m alright. I was wondering if I could ask you a question?” Ashley spoke with a smile, as her pale skin and blue eyes sparkled with the light of the fire. She, like everyone else, was wearing only a small amount of her uniform. Her shirt was untucked from her skirt and her fishnet tights hugged her legs perfectly, as she sat on the arm with her left leg crossed over her right.

“Of course,” Remus spoke quickly.

Ashley looked around his friends and saw all their eyes glued onto them. “Privately, perhaps,” she concluded.

With a light chuckle, Remus nodded and stood up, wincing as his knees cracked in the process. As Ashley stood up and walked up, suggesting he followed, he turned around to his friends with wide eyes and his head shaking. “What do I do?” He whispered frantically.

James was about to speak before his words were stopped in his throat as another answered his question. “You don’t need to do anything, only answer if you want to. And answer truthfully if you do, there’s nothing worse than lying to a girl who likes you,” Lily spoke quickly and smiled at the worried Remus.

Remus nodded in gratitude and took a deep breath before turning on his heel and walking quickly behind Ashley.

“He’s done for,” Peter snorted.

“It’s Moony. He’ll be fine,” James muttered as they all continued to stare at the two.

 

“So,” Remus began as Ashley stopped at the other end of the common room, “what’s up?”

Her blonde hair had fallen out of the braid and was falling loosely over her face, Remus watched as she tucked a piece of long hair behind her ear. “I was wondering if you’d like to help me set up our friends?”

Confusion sprung upon Remus’ face, “which friends?”

“I have a friend who’s extremely into Sirius Black. And well, as you two are best friends, I was wondering if you’d help set them up with me,” Ashley’s eyes were wide with excitement and her smile was loving.

Remus stared at Ashley with his mouth gaped ever so slightly, his eyes confused and large. “You want me to help set… Sirius up with someone?”

Ashley smiled and tilted her head to the side, “yes, and I’d give you something in return,” she took a step forward and placed her hand on the boy’s chest. Remus watched with wide eyes as Ashley took another step towards him, invading his personal space, and then another step. Panic set into Remus and he quickly took a step back, and another before bumping into a large table. He was trapped between a table and a beautiful girl eagerly coming towards him, wonderful. Her head came closer towards Remus’ and he could feel his heart thumping wildly in his chest. He did not want to do this. As soon as Ashley was a mere few centimetres from his face, Remus ducked and quickly escaped from where he was trapped, he darted back to the couch without a single glance backwards. He jumped back into his seat and sunk the lowest he had ever sunk into it. The Marauders and Lily were all staring at him with large eyes and gaping mouths.

“Oh. My. God.” Lily snorted loudly and smacked her hand over her mouth as her laughter spilled out.

James’ attention was brought off Remus and he stared and listened to Lily laugh. Her laugh. James thought he had never heard anything as beautiful, as real, as contagious. And so, with that, James begun to laugh. Peter followed suit.

But as Remus tried to hide his red face and shaking hands, he caught eyes with Sirius. Sirius looked torn between wanting to laugh and wanting to break something, and Remus could see that. He wanted to say something to reassure him, but no words would come out. That was until Ashley returned. “Remus Lupin,” she sighed.

Remus snapped his head up to where she stood next to him. “I, uh, I’m sorry,” Remus muttered with trembling hands.

“Don’t be,” she waved him off with a smile, “I want you to introduce my friend to Sirius.”

Remus looked behind Ashley and saw a nervous girl. Her hair was dyed black and her large glasses were propped up on her nose, an awkward smile upon her red lips. “No way,” Remus muttered.

“What?” Ashley asked.

Eyes snapped towards Remus and silence filled the room. Remus covered his face with two hands before taking a deep breath and standing up. He stood facing the two girls and felt the eyes all burning holes into him. “You can try to kiss and flirt with me, with your hair and bright blue eyes – but you cannot ask me to set Sirius up with _anyone_.”

Ashley narrowed her eyes and folded her arms across her chest, “and why’s that?” Remus shook his head as anger started to rise in his blood. He hated how his anger could rise so quickly, especially when it was nearing the full moon. He hated it. With another shake of his head, Ashley pressed further, taking another step towards him. “What is it, Lupin?”

He tried to contain it, he did. But it was too much, the anger was too much. The emotions he felt were too invading and intrusive, he didn’t know how to hold them in. And so, with a thumping heart and quick breath, he stood his ground, “because I love him, you bloody twit.”

“You what?” Sirius and Ashley both exclaimed.

Reality sunk in as Remus realised what he said. _Shit, shit, shit,_ he thought. But he also knew it was too late to take it back, and way too late to try and change what he meant. He continued to face Ashley, with his back to the now standing Sirius. Remus pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed, “yes, I love Sirius Black. I have always loved Sirius bloody Black. And if you don’t mind, I have some studying I need to tend to.” He nodded at the gobsmacked Ashley, before pushing past her and the strange girl, and walked straight to his dorm room. He left 6 students completely bewildered and silent, as their eyes chased him.

“What the _hell_!” Ashley somewhat screamed.

James smiled and sat back, crossing his right leg over his right, folding his hands in his lap, “young love, Ashley. You’ve just got to sit back and let it unfold, isn’t that right, Evans?”

Lily pulled her eyes away from the stairs leading up to the dorm rooms, and looked towards James. She rolled her eyes and shook her head, “bugger off, Potter. You should probably go help your friend rather than flirt with me.”

They held each other’s gaze and a slight smile played upon both of their faces, but James then sighed and slapped his knees. “She’s right. Come on Marauders, let’s go save Moony from the pit of despair.”

Sirius had not moved; his eyes were glued onto the staircase. He could feel the oxygen filling his lungs, he could feel his heart thump in his chest as it echoed throughout his whole body, his blood pumping viciously through his veins. “Padfoot?” He heard a voice say, but he was still unable to move. “Padfoot, sit down.” The voice spoke again, and before he knew it, his body was being moved by calming hands. Sirius was sat down in the armchair, and his eyes landed on the three people in front of him.

“Thanks,” Sirius breathed.

“This is the only time I allow you to act like a drama queen in front of me, understood?” Lily spoke, her hand rubbing soft and comforting circles on his shoulder.

“Sure thing, Evans,” Sirius spoke with a slight quiver in his voice.

Lily smiled at Sirius before turning to the remaining two Marauders, “you two go upstairs and talk to Remus. I’ll stay down here with Sirius.”

James and Peter nodded before turning on their heel and quickly headed for their dorm. “First name basis now, hey?” Sirius asked as Lily turned back around to face him.

A small laugh escaped her lips, “only for a little while.”

Sirius wanted to laugh, to tease, but he was too distracted. “What do I do?”

She took his hand in hers and smiled, “don’t do what I’m doing. Don’t pretend not to have feelings for someone because you’re scared. You’re more than that, Sirius, you deserve more than that. If you want to be with him, if you want to be happy, then you need to go up to that room and tell him. You’ve been through so much, you’ve finally gotten out of that wretched place you used to call home, you’re living with James – your brother.”

Tears had begun to enter Sirius’ eyes, “I’m not good enough for him.”

“Hey,” Lily scolded, squeezing his hand, “yes you are. You put everyone’s needs before your own, you lighten up a room just simply by being there, you are good. No one can convince me or anyone else otherwise, Sirius. You turned against your Slytherin blood line because you knew that’s not who you are. We’ve all got both light and dark inside us. What matter is the part we choose to act on. That’s who we really are.”

 

“Moony?” James asked softly, as he knocked on the door to their dorm room.

As he heard no reply, James turned to face Peter. Peter shrugged and bit his bottom lip, “should we go in?”

James nodded and took a deep breath before slowly pushing the door open, when the door was opened a reasonable amount, he pushed his head through and what he saw made his heart sink. Remus was sitting on the floor with his back against the side of his bed, his legs tucked up to his chest as his head was sunk to his knees. “Hey,” James whispered softly, walking closely towards his friend, “are you okay?”

Remus lifted his head just barely enough to make eye contact with James. “Why couldn’t I just keep my mouth shut?”

“What’s the fun in that, Moony?” Peter asked, walking towards them both.

James and Peter knelt and fell to their knees next to their friend. “You’re going to be okay, Moony, we’ll make sure of it. We’re the Marauders, we stick together,” James spoke with a nod and he put a hand on Remus’ back.

“Thank you,” Remus croaked, his throat was too dry, “I think I’m going to get some sleep.”

“Of course, mate,” James replied, “come on.” He helped him up and asked if he needed anything, to which Remus replied with a slight shake of the head and James and Peter smiled and walked out of the room, leaving Remus alone.

“What’s going to happen?” Peter asked, as they walked down the stairs to the common room.

James stopped walking and pondered for a moment, “I don’t know. But once they get off their arses and talk, they’ll be more than okay.”

Peter smiled and scoffed, before they both continued to walk down to Sirius and Lily. As they entered the common room, they saw Sirius braiding a part of Lily’s long red hair, with a smile on both of their faces. They were talking and enjoying each other’s company, and James couldn’t help but smile as he watched it. His best friend and the girl he loved.

“Ah, Prongs, just in time, I was about to tell Evans about our next prank,” Sirius smiled, he sat on the armchair as Lily sat on the floor with her hair in Sirius’ hands.

James smiled and walked further into the room, himself and Peter plonking themselves on the sofa in front of the fire. “Padfoot wants to put a cow on the roof,” James nodded.

“You what?” Lily spluttered, but was unable to move her head as Sirius held it firmly in place.

“Just imagine McGonagall’s face,” Sirius laughed as the images entered his mind.

“After we get expelled,” Peter mumbled, gaining looks from Sirius.

With a sigh, Sirius replied, “we’re not going to get expelled for putting a cow on the roof, Wormtail.”

Lily laughed and smiled at her friends, her new friends, “right. How’s Remus?”

Sirius’ hand tightened ever so slightly, but Lily pretended not to notice. James cleared his throat and sat up, “he’s gone to bed. I think he’s embarrassed about what he said, and scared about how some will react.”

“You mean, how _I’ll_ react,” Sirius cocked his eyebrow.

Lily reached behind her and placed her hand on Sirius’, “you need to tell him.”

“I will,” Sirius sighed and finally finished Lily’s hair, “there. Keep it like this tomorrow, it’s nice. Don’t you think, Prongs?”

“Yes,” James smiled.

Lily felt a blush creep towards her cheeks and she smiled at the tall boy with glasses and messy hair, “thank you, Potter. And thank you, Black, you’re going to have to do it more often.”

“Anything for my sister-in-law, Evans,” Sirius winked, as he helped Lily stand up.

She shook her head and laughed, surprisingly; before, turning to the rest and wished them all goodnight.

All 3 boys watched as Lily walked with a smile up to the stairs and up to her dorm. Before turning to each other once more, it was Peter who spoke first, “we have a potions exam tomorrow, why don’t we all head up to bed?”

James replied with a hum, “Peter’s right. Come on, Padfoot.”

Sirius turned to look at the clock sitting over fireplace and sighed, it was nearing midnight. With a nod towards James, they all stood up and picked up their things before heading to their dorm room. “Pete, will you give me a minute with Pads?” James asked, as Peter waited for the two boys.

With a smile, “of course,” Peter replied. He nodded at his friends before trotting off towards the stairs and out of the other boys’ sight.

“What’s up, Prongs?” Sirius asked, clearing his throat, when he was sure Peter was out of hearing range.

“I just wanted to see if you were okay.” James was standing right in front of Sirius at that point, and his eyes were searching his face for any sign of sadness or worry.

“I…” Sirius thought for a moment, his eyes dropping to the floor as he bit the inside of his cheek. Worry began to emit through James, he was terrified for his friend, his best friend. Thoughts were spinning into images in his mind, but they all quickly vanished as Sirius’ eyes met his, “I am. I’m happy, Prongs. I mean, of course I’m worried and scared, but I’m happy. He loves me. Remus John Lupin loves me back, and there’s nothing else I want more in this entire world.” A smile had crept upon Sirius’ lips as he spoke, and his eyes shone just as brightly and wide.

James broke into a mirroring smile, and threw his arms around his brother. He pulled him tightly into him and they squeezed each other, as they chuckled and smiled. “I’m happy for you, Pads. I really am,” James whispered happily.

 

Minutes had barely passed before James and Sirius walked into their dark room. They crept into room fully before James had quietly closed the door, “Wormtail?” He whispered.

“Yeah?” A whisper replied to him through the darkness.

“Is Moony asleep?” The boy with the glasses asked, stepping over his discarded robe and tip-toeing to his trunk.

Peter sat up in his bed and strained his eyes to look at the standing two. He saw James open his trunk with his wand, and Sirius was doing the same. “I think so. I called his name when I came in, but he didn’t reply,” Peter whispered back.

“A full moon’s coming up,” Sirius noted, “probably why he’s so exhausted.”

“Shit, when is it?” James quickly shot up and looked at Sirius in the dark.

“Language, Potter,” came a voice from the apparent sleeping Remus, “it’s in 2 weeks.”

Peter, James and Sirius all jumped as they heard the loud voice. Their ears had just become accustomed to the whispering, and hearing Remus’ voice scared the life out of them. “Jesus, Remus! I thought you were asleep,” Peter exclaimed, clutching his chest, his eyes wide.

“Lumos,” James whispered, his wand lighting up in an instant.

As the light lit up the room, the 3 boys saw Remus laying on his side as his hand hung off the left of his bed, his eyes staring dimly at the floor. “Couldn’t sleep and didn’t have the energy to reply when you asked,” his voice was plain and dull, as he remained in his still position.

Eye contact was caught upon the other boys and all looked concerned, “are you okay?” James took slow steps towards Remus’ laying body. Once James reached him, he knelt to the ground and watched as Remus refused to lift his eyes to meet his. “Remus?”

“I don’t know,” he whispered.

James turned to see Sirius and Peter standing closely behind him, their eyes focused on Remus. “Remus,” Peter spoke, “is it about what happened in the common room?”

They watched as Remus tried but failed to raise his eyesight to meet Peter, “what happened in the common room?” His voice replied weakly and quiet, barely audible.

“What?” James asked quickly.

“James,” Remus took a breath, “I can’t see,” another breath, “I can’t feel anything.”

James turned around quickly to face his other friends, and realised his face must have mirrored theirs. Their eyes were wide and mouths were gaping open as worried breaths escaped them. He quickly spun back around to Remus and put a hand on his back, “can you feel that?”

Tears were filling in Remus’ eyes and his breathing had become hard and heavy, “I can’t feel anything.”

“Oh, Merlin,” James exclaimed, “Peter, go get Madam Pomfrey!”

Peter tried to muster up a reply, before Sirius shoved his shoulder, sending Peter running for the nurse. His bare feet slapping the steps as he ran were echoed through the tower. “James, don’t leave me, please. I don’t want to be alone,” Remus’ voice broke and tears escaped his eyes as they rolled down the side of his face.

Sirius’ heart broke at the sight of the tears. Remus, to Sirius, looked terrified. His eyes were empty as they continued to stare at the floor, his hand lay motionless off the side of his bed, and his whole body shook with his hard breaths.

“I’m not going anywhere, Moony. Okay? Me and Sirius are right here.” James spoke with a steady and stern voice, he was not letting the nerves take over. James knew what he had to do and that was take care and reassure the person he cared about.

“Sirius?” Remus whispered.

“I’m here, Moons. I’m right here beside you,” Sirius spoke, his voice shook. He fell to his knees beside James, and took Remus’ hand that hung in front of him.

With as much energy he could conquer, he took a deep breath and gulped, “what’s happening to me?”

James and Sirius looked at each other quickly, “I’m not sure.  But Peter will be here with Madam Pomfrey any minute now, so you’re going to be fine,” Sirius replied.

Remus could feel his blood running through his veins. The beating of his heart was growing louder and louder, making it nearly impossible to hear what his friends were saying. His bones were groaning as he could feel them freezing and becoming locked. The dark and light shadows were blurring his vision, the taste of blood filling his mouth, his heart beat echoing through his ears. Every nerve in Remus’ body was numb, it felt as if he was resting on nothing, touching nothing.

“Remus?” James exclaimed when he didn’t reply to Sirius.

Once again, no reply.

Sirius squeezed his hand tighter and his heart was falling into his stomach with every breath, “Moony?”

James scrambled to his feet after they gained no reply, he ran to the door of their room and shouted, “Peter!” He shouted over and over again, hearing nothing but the sounds of Sirius shouting Remus’ name.

But as he shouted Peter’s name once more, doors in their tower began to open. “Potter, what the _hell_ are you doing?” Lily shouted angrily.

The stairway and tower lit up as several angry faces met James’. But as everyone saw the worried look and tearful eyes, their anger dropped. “James, what’s the matter?” A boy asked, as several people began to ask the same question.

“Remus, look at me!” Sirius shouted from within their room, “Please! You have to look at me!” Silence fell in the tower as everyone in Gryffindor stood in the stairwell and stared at James, listening to the shouts from Sirius. “Remus, please don’t leave me. Come back to me, please.” Sirius began to cry and several people in front of James had begun to realise what was going on, including Lily.

“James?” Lily asked quietly, her voice shook in worry.

James’ eyes quickly shot up to Lily, she stood outside of the girls’ dormitory doors, her hair still untouched from what Sirius had done. “It’s Remus. We don’t know what’s wrong,” his voice cracked and tears fell from his eyes.

Gasps were heard amongst the crowd, before several people began to run down the stairs shouting for Madam Pomfrey and Professor McGonagall. Lily, noticing how James couldn’t move from where he stood, ordered everyone to go down to the common room and/or find help. With silent nods, everyone listened and ran down the stairs. Lily quickly walked over to James and threw her arms around his shoulders. “He’s going to be okay,” she whispered as she tightly embraced the shaking boy.

But before James had time to react to what Lily was doing, Sirius shouted painfully out for James. “James, he’s not breathing!”

James threw himself out of Lily’s embrace and darted into his room, his eyes widened in horror when he focused on what was in front of him. Blood was oozing out of Remus’ mouth and nose, his eyes were missing their amber iris’ and were full of white orbs. Sirius was sitting on Remus’ bed, as Remus was lying flat and staring up at the ceiling. “Sirius…” James breathed.

Sirius turned to face James. His cheeks were soaked with tears, and his once beautiful, bright, grey eyes were replaced with a red, bloodshot fear. Sirius’ body was shaking as his blood covered hands were pushing down on Remus’ chest. “He’s not breathing, James. Why isn’t he breathing?”

Just as Sirius finished his sentence, Madam Pomfrey came sprinting into the room, Professor McGonagall and Dumbledore following suit. The nurse took a second to focus on the scene before her, before quickly rushing to Remus and ordering the two professors to take Sirius and James away. “No!” Sirius shouted, his hands gripping tightly on Remus’ chest. The nurse shouted once more, before Sirius felt a strong hand on his shoulder. He turned and saw McGonagall looking at him with wide and worried eyes, but he refused to move. McGonagall quickly carried Sirius off Remus’ body, and pulled his back to her chest, holding him tightly. “No!” Sirius screamed once more, as he was dragged away. He fought and kicked at the ground, screaming as he was pulled further and further away from Remus; but McGonagall was too strong for the boy. She held him tightly against her and said nothing, her voice was trapped in her throat as she pulled the boy. “Remus, wake up, you have to wake up!” Sirius screamed tearfully once more, before he was out of the room and his eyes were welcomed to the view of the door and not Remus.

Painful sobs escaped his throat as he felt the arms around him get tighter, hugging him. He raised his shaking hands and wrapped them around the strong arms holding him. “I’ve got you,” McGonagall spoke softly yet fearfully, as she hugged the boy tighter. Sirius began to cry harder, harder than he had ever cried, as he felt every piece of his heart shatter and collapse into his stomach. His body fell weak as all the energy he had went into the sobs and cries, McGonagall turned him around to face her and quickly picked him up, and rushed him down to the common room.

As she rushed down the stairs, she noticed the common room was unbearably quiet. All eyes were on her as she carried the crying boy down. “Minerva, lay him here,” Dumbledore spoke urgently as he stood in front of the fireplace, pointing to the sofa. McGonagall nodded and headed for the sofa, carefully putting him down. Dumbledore knelt to the floor, beside Sirius, “Sirius, I need you to calm down.”

“Albus?” McGonagall’s eyes were furrowed and confusion was etched upon her face. _Why on earth was he telling the boy to calm down, he watched his best friend die, he tried to resuscitate his dead friend_ , she thought.

Dumbledore looked up to the Professor, before his eyes moved along the room. The whole room was full of silent crying Gryffindors. The friends of Remus Lupin were silently crying for him, as they sat on the floor or on chairs, some stood and some were sitting on the stairs. But three, three Gryffindors weren’t crying silently. Sirius Black, James Potter and Peter Pettigrew. They were crying with bloodshot and horror filled eyes, their painful and heart wrenching sobs emitting more tears from their onlooking friends. Remus Lupin’s best friends were heart broken, there was no way they could calm down. Sirius was sitting on the sofa with his legs tucked into his chest, as his blood-stained hands were clawing at his chest; James was sitting on the floor with his back leaning against the sofa, with his legs also tucked into his chest; and Peter was sitting in the armchair next to the sofa with his legs tucked underneath him and his body hunched over as he cried into his arms.

As the whole common room, excluding the three Marauders, cried silently, they only blamed half of their tears on Remus. Their hearts were breaking due to Remus, but what shattered them was Sirius. All of the tower, all of the school, had heard his cries, his begs, his sobs. There were audible sobs before Sirius and James had come down the stairs, people were crying openly in worry. But once they heard the heart wrenching cry from Sirius, the scream for him not to leave Remus, it left everyone in silence. Even as they watched Dumbledore struggle to hold hysterical James up as he walked him down the stairs, everyone remained silent and still, listening to the heart-breaking cries and screams from Sirius; their hearts broke along with him.

Dumbledore looked back down to Sirius and pushed his tear-soaked hair from his face, “he’s going to be okay.”

With a broken look on his face and red eyes, he looked up to his headmaster, “what?” He croaked.

“He was hexed, your friend is going to be fine,” a wry smile found its way upon the old face.

Sirius was sure, and still being up to this day, that his heart had stopped beating for a moment. His face whitened more than it already had, and he stared at the focused eyes in front of him. “He’s going to be okay?” Sirius asked quietly, he didn’t know whether to believe his headmaster.

Dumbledore nodded and smiled at Sirius. More tears escaped Sirius’ eyes, but they were of happiness, and he threw his arms around the man, “thank you,” he repeated. Sirius closed his eyes tightly as he felt Dumbledore hug him back, and he thanked all the Gods. When they finally parted, Sirius looked down and saw the shaking James and still crying Peter, he quickly jumped off the sofa, pulled up James and Peter and engulfed them in the biggest, and most emotional hug they had ever had. They rested their heads together and cried silently, giving each other the support they all needed.

 

Remus could feel his head throbbing and the steady rate of his pulse, his eyes were remained closed and he realised he was still not fully asleep. Remus wanted to wake up, to open his eyes, but it consisted of so much effort, too much effort. He laid there in silence, listening to the ticking of a nearby clock and rain tapping on a window; however, his content silence was ruined by a voice. Sirius’ voice. “Do you think he’s going to be okay?” He asked quietly.

Remus’ ears strained as he waited for a reply to come, he was unsure of what to do or what was going on, “he’ll be fine, Padfoot. Dumbledore even said so himself, there’s nothing to worry about. We just need to wait for him to wake up,” James replied, his voice soft and comforting.

“It’s been 3 days, Prongs,” Sirius gulped and his voice was muffled and Remus knew by the familiar sound, Sirius had buried his face in his hands.

 _3 days? What the hell happened, where am I? Why haven’t I been awake for 3 days?_ Remus could feel his heart rate quicken, but he needed answers. He hated the worry in Sirius’ voice, he hated the gnawing feeling in his stomach; and so, with everything Remus had, opening his eyes, Remus found his voice. “3 days is an awfully long time to sleep,” he croaked.

Sirius, Peter and James quickly jumped from their seats and joined Remus by the side of his bed. “You’re awake,” James breathed with a relieved smile.

Remus quickly looked amongst his friends and smiled, his beautiful friends stayed with him, and didn’t leave his side through anything. “Apparently,” Remus replied. But the brightness of the room attracted his attention, he wasn’t in his dorm room, or his bed. He was in the hospital wing.

“Here, let us help you up,” James spoke caringly, his hands shaking as they made their way to Remus’ still body. Remus nodded at his invitation, and watched as his three friends gently helped him sit up.

“Thank you,” Remus smiled, “now, will someone please tell me what the hell is going on?”

Looks were shared amongst the three standing boys, before Peter spoke, “what’s the last thing you remember, Moony?”

The amber-eyed boy in the bed thought for a moment, looking down to his hands which rested on top of the blanket as he tried to retrace his memories. “Slughorn was trying to make us create a secret recipe,” as Remus finished, he looked up to his friends with hopeful eyes. But the hopefulness was quickly knocked out of him, all three of his friends were staring at him with furrowed eyes and tight-lipped frowns. “What?” Remus asked, “what is it?”

“We had nearly a full day after that,” James frowned at his friend.

“Oh,” Remus deadpanned. He closed his eyes and tried to remember, but after he was paired up with Sirius, it went black, and then he was listening to the conversation between James and Sirius.

The curtains around The Marauders quickly flew open and Professor McGonagall glided in, “it’s wonderful to see you awake, Mr Lupin.” Dark bags were resting under her worry-filled eyes, “I take it your friends have explained to you what had happened.”

“Not necessarily, Professor. He doesn’t remember anything after Potions that day,” Peter frowned sadly.

Her back straightened as she stared at Remus, “oh.”

“Can you explain, Professor?” Remus asked fearfully, with pleading eyes.

A sigh escaped her lips, before she walked to the end of Remus’ bed and looked up to him, “you were hexed. Pretty badly. By your memory only allowing you to remember your Potions class, it would seem likely it happened then. But you carried on with your day, went to bed before your friends and then you encountered some sort of fit – the main aim of the hex.”

Remus gulped, “how bad was the fit?”

“Bad.” Sirius’ head dropped to the floor as he bit the inside of his cheek. Remus, as well as the others, looked to Sirius and he titled his head in confusion.

“Sirius saw all of it,” James answered Remus’ unspoken question.

“Don’t ever do that again,” Sirius spoke quietly, looking up to catch Remus’ eyes, “please.”

Remus shook his head and was about to reply, to reassure Sirius, before McGonagall spoke, “he most certainly will not. We’ll find the witch or wizard that did this, and will make them formally apologise in front of every teacher and student in this school. They created a lot of fear and sadness in a small amount of time, and no one does that to a student of mine.” McGonagall smiled as the boys all stared at her with a glint in their eyes, she walked around the bed and watched as James and Peter moved out of her way. Her wide eyes concentrated on the pale boy in the bed and smiled sadly, taking his hands, “this isn’t fair to you, Remus. I am terribly sorry. But I will make sure this won’t happen again, not to you, not to anyone. You have far too much to worry about than concentrating on the next wizard hexing you.”

A lump appeared in Remus’ throat and he gulped loudly, “thank you, Professor. Honestly, thank you.”

Professor McGonagall smiled before walking out of their space, closing the curtain with a _swish_ of her wand, leaving The Marauders alone. “I always knew she loved us,” Sirius smiled coolly, before falling into his seat.

The other boys rolled their eyes teasingly and smiled, before James swore under his breath. “What?” Sirius asked, looking up.

James looked at Sirius with a pained expression, “I’m sorry,” he mouthed. Sirius shook his head in confusion and narrowed his eyes, he stood up and kept his eyes glued onto James. But James kept his eyes focused on Remus, “Moony, do you remember anything about what happened in the common room 3 nights ago?”

Realisation was slammed into Sirius’ chest, and Peter made a side glance at Sirius before turning to also face Remus. The three pairs of eyes bore fiercely into Remus, as a slight shade of pink rose in his cheeks under all the attention. “No, why?”

“Are you sure?” Peter pushed.

Remus furrowed his eyebrows and eyed his friends suspiciously, “I am sure. Why, what happened?”

“Nothing,” Sirius spat out quickly.

All eyes landed on Sirius, as his eyes remained steady and focused. He stared at Remus with an awkward smile but his body stood its ground. “Somehow,” Remus began with a cocked eyebrow, “I don’t believe that.”

“It was nothing of importance,” Sirius waved it off and flicked his hair from his shoulder.

Remus turned to James and eyed his friend, his honest friend, “James?”

James gulped under the sudden pressure and looked between Sirius and Remus. He didn’t want to go behind either of them, he wanted them to be happy and together. “Perhaps this isn’t the right time,” he smiled eerily.

Remus could feel the panic arise in him and he quickly pushed himself up more in the bed, ignoring the pain in his bones, “what did I do? Please tell me if I did something wrong.” His eyes were shifting between his friends, desperately looking for the answer.

“Moony,” Sirius spoke quickly, coming closer to the bed, “you didn’t do anything wrong. Nothing bad happened, we just want to let you get better and find who did this to you first.”

Relief entered the tired boy as he felt a weight being removed from his heavy shoulders, “I didn’t do anything?”

“No,” Sirius smiled and put his hand supportively on Remus’ shoulder, giving him a tight squeeze.

“And you’ll tell me when we find who did this?” Remus asked, his eyes glued onto Sirius’.

“I promise,” he could feel a blush start to stain his cheeks as they remained eye locked; but Sirius didn’t want to look away. He felt as if he could stare at those amber stained eyes all day, the faint scar which rested above his left eyebrow, his plump red lips. Sirius could have stared at Remus all day.

“Everyone’s so happy you’re okay, Moony,” Peter spoke softly, dragging the eyes of both boys onto him.

But realisation once again hit Remus in the chest, “everyone knows?”

“The whole school does, mate.” James smiled sadly.

“How?” Remus asked, looking down to his hands once more. He was ashamed, he was one of the smartest wizards in Hogwarts and he was able to have been hexed to such an extent he nearly died.

It was Sirius’ turn to then feel the _pang_ of guilt and realisation, he slowly peeled his hand away from Remus’ shoulder. “We woke up the common room and all the other houses heard the commotion or the news from others,” Sirius spoke quietly, “I’m sorry.”

“Why are you sorry?” Remus asked, his arm feeling somewhat lonely without Sirius.

Sirius looked down to the ground and rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly, not knowing what to say. “Prongs?” Sirius asked, looking briefly up to his other friend on the other side of the bed, he knew that Remus deserved to know what happened if he couldn’t tell him the full story yet.

Remus looked slowly from Sirius to James, before James cleared his throat and whispered, “are you sure, Padfoot?”

“I’m sure,” he nodded and looked back down to his own shoes – not the ones issued with the school uniform.

James smiled widely at Remus before clearing his throat once more, “you went to bed first, then Wormtail, and then me and Padfoot. Wormtail asked if you were awake but you didn’t reply so he got ready for bed and then we came up. We all spoke quietly before you said something, and obviously it scared the crap out of us because we all thought you were asleep. But then you were acting weird, so I asked if you were okay but you didn’t remember what happened or if you were okay. You weren’t moving. You couldn’t see anything or feel anything. So, we sent Wormtail down to get Madam Pomfrey but he took so long. I ran to the stairs to shout for Peter but no one was coming, and Merlin, we just needed help. The whole of the tower came out to see what was going on and then Sirius began to shout. You weren’t replying to him, at all, so he panicked. He started to shout louder and more people ran to get help – and you stopped breathing, so I ran back in and saw you covered in blood and Sirius was trying to resuscitate you because…you died, Remus. You died in Sirius’ arms, and your blood was all over him. Madam Pomfrey came with Professor McGonagall and Dumbledore, and they dragged me and him out of the room. But Sirius wanted to stay with you. So, he shouted and screamed, begged for you to wake up, but McGonagall was stronger and was able to pull him out. Everyone knows what happened because everyone heard him shout for you, Remus. And that’s why he’s sorry; he’s sorry because he thinks he’s the reason why everyone knows about what happened – regardless of how many times we all tell him it’s not his fault.” By the end, tears had begun to form in James’ eyes, the memories slamming into him.

But, tears weren’t only in James’ eyes. They were in the eyes of all the boys. Remus was holding his breath as his heart thumped loudly, the tears stinging the brims of his eyes; he looked around his friends in shock. Peter was trying to swallow the lump in his throat as tears silently fell and rolled down his red cheeks; James was tensing his jaw and fighting back his tears, a supportive smile faintly played upon his lips – but that was James, the boy who loved, the boy who threw away his pain to be there for his friends; and Sirius. Sirius looked dreadful. It was the first time Remus had taken in his appearance, there were dark purple bags resting under his bloodshot eyes, his lips were chapped and lacked their usual redness, his long black hair was messily tied up into a bun with stray pieces falling around his pale face. Sirius was wearing a plain white t-shirt with tight black jeans and black boots tightly wrapping up his outfit. He was looking down to the floor, tensing his jaw and his eyes blinking quickly, his nose twitching.

“Sirius,” Remus croaked, “I would have reacted the same. Please don’t think anything is your fault, because it isn’t.” He effortlessly leaned forward and grabbed Sirius’s hand, forcing Sirius to look at him. “I promise you, this isn’t your fault, none of it is. So what if people know now, just means we can find who did it quicker.”

Tears pricked at Sirius’ eyes, but he didn’t know what to say. He looked at the smiling boy in the bed and quickly threw his arms around his shoulders, pulling him into a tight hug. Remus quickly hugged him back and they both smiled as they hugged tighter, “please don’t ever do that again. I don’t want to live in a world without you, Moons.”

Remus held a breath in shock, his heart quickly picking up its pace. The words rang in his mind and he had to bite his tongue to keep himself for asking Sirius to repeat it, and perhaps stop himself for speaking the three words that danced on the roof of his mouth. “I’ll be with you till the end,” Remus whispered.

But before either of them could say another word, a scream parted their hug. The Marauders quickly looked to the curtain before it was thrown open by two girls; one ginger and one blonde. “Remus!” Ashley and Lily shouted. Both girls darted to either side of his bed, pushing the three boys out of the way, and threw their arms around him. Remus, though confused and startled, awkwardly hugged the girls back.

“Are you okay?” Lily asked hurriedly, as they peeled themselves from the boy, her eyes searching him openly.

“I’m okay, Lily, thank you. But it seems I've lost my memory” he frowned.

“What?” She exclaimed, her eyes wide before turning to face James, “how could you let him lose his memory?” Lily quickly picked up the book on the table next to the bed and began hitting James.

“Chill, Evans!” James shouted in between hits, “he’s only forgotten the day when he was bloody hexed.” James’ eyes were searching and glaring as they landed on his friends, his laughing friends.

Lily immediately stopped hitting James, “oh.” She then, once again, turned back to a laughing Remus and smiled, “so you don’t remember anything about that day?”

Remus’ laughter stopped and he shook his head, “the morning and then just the first few minutes of potions.”

Lily looked towards Sirius and watched the pain flash in his eyes for a brief second, before back to Remus. “Oh, well, I guess no one’s told what happened in the common room?”

Remus opened his mouth to speak before James interjected, “we’re waiting for a better time, you know, after we find who did this.” But as he spoke and came up to the bed next to Lily, she glared angrily at him. “What?” He asked, standing back next to Peter.

“And who’s stupid idea was that?” Lily folded her arms over her chest as she eyed the standing Marauders.

Sirius cleared his throat from behind Ashley, and stood forward, desperately not wanting to be under Lily’s glare, “mine.”

“What?” Lily and Ashley both asked.

Remus, who was very confused, was completely unaware of why it was such a big deal and lost his patience. He was the person who lost his memory, why was he the one suffering with their questions and their secrets? “Actually, I agree with Lily,” all eyes were placed upon him, as Lily smiled smugly, “I want to know what happened and I don’t want to wait until we know who did this to me.” The Marauders shifted on their feet awkwardly, as Sirius sheepishly looked between James and Peter. Lily and Ashley watched the boys with disgruntled looks, completely bewildered as they watched the mental conversation going on between the three standing boys. “Fine,” Remus spat out, “I’ll just try to remember it myself.” He grabbed his wand from the side table and was about to perform a spell, before a memory slapped him in the face.

“Remus?” Lily asked, everyone quickly moved their way closer to the bed. Remus dropped his wand and stared blankly at the end of his bed, his mouth gaped open.

“Moons?” Sirius asked, concern laced in his voice.

“Merlin,” Remus muttered under his breath, his knuckles becoming blue as he gripped his blanket, “ _fuck, fuck._ ”

“Remus, what is it?” Lily’s hand found its way to his shoulder.

“I need to go,” Remus spoke quickly, as he picked his wand back up and tapped his free shoulder, his own clothes quickly appearing on his body, and his hospital issued pyjamas were quickly placed on the end of his bed. Lily pulled her hand back at sudden change and took a step back in shock.

“Hey, hey,” James spoke quickly, “you can’t leave yet. What’s going on?”

Remus made eye contact with James for a split second before throwing the blanket off his body and jumping off the bed, “I’ll see you later.” His voice was hurried and his eyes frantic.

“Moony?” Peter exclaimed. He quickly took a step towards him and grabbed his forearm, “what’s wrong?”

The rushed boy quickly looked up to Peter’s eyes and he slowed immediately, he then turned to look at his other friends and saw their furrowed eyebrows and wide, worried eyes. “Nothing’s wrong, Peter,” Remus spoke softly and looked down to his smaller friend, “I’m fine.”

“What did you remember?” Sirius asked, afraid to meet his eyes.

Remus shook his head, “nothing of importance. But I do need to leave.” And with that, he quickly darted from his friends and began to sprint away from the wing.

He could hear the shouts from the friends he left behind, but he knew he couldn’t turn around, he couldn’t tell them. Remus knew that he couldn’t tell his friends who hexed him because he knew they would have killed him. They would have killed Severus Snape.

 

Remus carried on running through the school, making sharp turns and through any main doors he could find, just to escape his friends. However, as he stopped running and turned one last corner, he collided with another. “I’m sorry,” Remus breathed. But as he focused on the person he collided with, his heart dropped.

“Watch where you’re going next time, Lupin,” Severus sneered, his eyes cold and stony.

Remus gulped, but his fear was quickly replaced with anger. An anger he always tried to bury. “Or what?”

His quick remark shocked Snape and his eyes zoomed in on the taller boy, “or you’ll find yourself back in the hospital wing.”

“Try me, Snape,” Remus took a step towards the shorter boy. Remus could feel his palms sweating as his hands shook angrily.

“I’m guessing you figured who hexed you,” Snape huffed the greasy hair out of his eyes and met Remus’ glare, their faces inches apart. “And, by the looks of it, you haven’t told your pompous boyfriends.”

Both boys knew that was a breaking point. Remus quickly pushed Snape back, slamming his back into the stony wall, “don’t push me, Snape.”

“Or what?” Snape sneered, “you’ll get your pathetic, good-for-nothing friends on me?” Snape’s eyes flicked behind him, but Remus failed to notice. What Snape did notice however, was Remus’ friends, including Lily, quickly walk up to them.

Remus tensed his jaw and shook his head angrily, before quickly throwing his left fist into Snape’s cheek. Remus then felt a long object point at his chest, and grabbed Snape’s wand out of his hand and took a step back, he quickly threw it on the floor and threw his foot down on it, snapping the wand instantly. Remus looked up to Snape and saw his wide, angry eyes staring down at his broken wand, with his left hand holding his right cheek.

“You bastard,” Snape exclaimed, before charging right towards Remus.

Remus charged towards the boy and angrily threw him back against the wall, he angrily pulled his knee up in between Snape’s legs and ignored the groans and cheers from an obvious crowd behind them. Snape’s groans joined them before he punched Remus in the nose, forcing Remus to take a few steps backwards. He quickly raised his hand to his nose and looked at the blood dripping down his palm. “I’m going to fucking kill you,” Remus growled.

“Remus, don’t!” He heard a voice behind him shout, but the anger was too much. The red cloud steered his mind and his vision was blurred.

Snape smiled at the boy and they both charged towards each other once more; fists were flying and backs were being thrown against the floor and walls. Remus could hear someone shouting his name, several people, but he didn’t stop to look. He quickly grabbed Snape’s throat and his fingers gripped tightly, Snape clawed at his hand and was dragged to the wall once more. “Don’t fucking come near me or my friends ever again. And that includes Lily fucking Evans, you piece of abusive shit.” Remus glared at the boy he held and slammed his body against the wall once more before releasing him. Snape remained where he stood and breathed heavily.

“I think you’ve just made it clear to the whole school who the monster truly is, Lupin.” Snape nodded behind Remus, but Remus didn’t look away from the eyes in front of him. “And I don’t think your queer, poncy boyfriend will want to be with you after that.”

Not even a second after Snape said what he said, Remus pulled his wand out of his grey jogging bottoms and held it against his throat, “I _dare_ you to say that again.” Sirius gulped and Remus smiled as he saw fear on the pale face. “Pettrificus totalus,” Remus muttered and watched as Snape’s body froze and fell to the ground.

Remus was finally able to breathe and ran his wand-free hand through his hair before turning around. As he turned, he was met with the eyes of nearly the whole school. Including the eyes of his best friends. He quickly noted that his friends were being held back by 7TH Year Slytherins with their own wands pointed at them, showing Remus that they tried to stop the fight but weren’t able to. Remus’ eyes scanned the silent and shocked crowd with heavy breaths, before rolling his eyes and shoving his hands into his pockets, and walking off.

 

“What the _bloody hell_ was that?” Lily all but screamed as stormed into the common room, The Marauders following quickly suit.

Remus was the only one in the common room, and he sat on the edge of the sofa with his elbows resting on his knees, as he dabbed tissue on his bleeding head and nose. He didn’t react or move when he heard his friends come into the room, his eyes fixed steely on the fire.

“Remus John Lupin, are you listening to me?” Lily scolded, she marched in front of the fire and stood in Remus’ direct view.

“Yes,” he replied coldly.

“No!” Lily stomped her foot angrily, “you do not get to be cold with me, Lupin. First, you nearly die – which broke my bloody heart by the way! Who else was I going to talk boys with? You’re my best friend, you muppet. And thinking you died killed me! Seeing James the way he was, killed me. And then when you’re all okay again, you walk – no, _run_ out on us and don’t tell us what's wrong, and then when we finally find you, you’re holding Severus bloody Snape against a wall and then you punch him, and obviously your stupid boyfriends go to jump in to save your stupid arse but a bunch of Slytherins take our wands and grab us. So, Lupin, you do not get to be cold with me! I am not someone you can get cold with, I am one of your best friends and I love you, we all love you. So, don’t you dare, for one minute, think you can push me away. Because I will beat your arse more than you did to Severus.”

All boys were completely stunned and silenced as Lily stood with her arms folded and her cheeks red, staring at Remus. Remus was, at that point, staring at Lily with wide and shocked eyes. He could sense Lily wasn’t finished with telling him off, but decided to test it. “Finished?” The other boys held their breaths at what Remus said, no one else had the guts to ask if _Lily Evans was finished._

“No, I am not finished!” Lily stomped her foot once more. Remus nodded and dabbed his nose once more. “You need to stop projecting your emotions onto other things. It’s getting beyond a joke now, Remus. You _need_ to tell people how you feel and stop pushing it down. If you’re angry, tell someone. If you’re upset, tell someone. If you’re in pain, you need to bloody tell someone. And if you’re in love, then you need to bloody tell him, because you might forget all over again!” Her eyes remained fixed on Remus and watched as he cocked his eyebrow at her, “yes. I’m finished.”

Remus nodded and dabbed his nose once again before looking at the tissue, “Lily Evans, if I wasn’t in so much pain, I would throw this pillow at you. Snape was the one who hexed me, and when I figured it out, I remembered everything. I remember hearing everyone’s cries and even yours. I am so sorry for what you had to go through, but knowing that Snape caused so much pain _through me_ , he was bloody lucky to get what he did. I love you, Lily, and you’re one the best friends I have ever had. And I wish you, too, also admitted to your feelings.”

Once Remus finished speaking, he dug into the pocket of his jogging bottoms and pulled out another tissue, and dabbed his very bloody nose, and using the other tissue to clean the blood dripping from his head. Lily, along with the others, was staring with broken hearts at Remus; they all knew instantly why Remus ran off and dealt with Sirius on his own, and it killed them. However, Lily’s heart was quickly mended. “Wait,” she threw her hands out in the air towards Remus, “you remember?”

Remus hummed and continued to deal with his injuries.

“Everything?” Lily asked, her smile wide.

“Everything,” he replied plainly. Lily jumped and clapped her hands, before throwing herself at the sitting boy. Remus quickly caught her and stood up, hugging the excited girl back. He awkwardly hugged the girl back, “um, Lily?” He asked.

“Yes, my lovely bear?” She replied happily.

“Do you like your jumper?” Remus asked, his eyes looking down at the yellow jumper the girl wore.

Lily pondered for a moment as they continued to hug, “I got it from my dad, so, I do. Why do you ask?”

“Because if you carry on hugging me, my blood will stain it,” he replied.

Lily quickly jumped apart from the hug and scanned her jumped, before looking to Remus. “You’re so lucky,” she glared teasingly.

“ _My lovely bear_?” Remus quoted, a laugh in his throat ready to emerge.

Lily shrugged and smiled, “I’m excited.”

However, their moment was quickly interrupted. “What the _hell_?” James shouted.

Lily and Remus quickly turned their heads to face the shocked three boys standing near the bookshelf. “What?” Lily asked.

“What just happened?” James asked, looking around the room with his mouth open in shock. “Do you two always act like that when we’re not around? How do you cope with each other’s attitudes and coldness? How did you make up so quickly, or Lily, how did you have a go and then go back to being friends again?” James, along with the others, looked as if he had witnessed a miracle.

“It’s just the way we are,” Lily shrugged. “But, I suppose you guys need to have your go now.”

The boys nodded, trying to remove the shock from their faces, before walking up to where Lily stood, as Lily sat Remus back down. Remus rolled his eyes and pushed his hair brown fringe out of his eyes – he really needed to get his hair cut, he thought. He cleaned the blood from his nose once more before looking up to his four friends all with the same stern look and folded arms. “Remus John Lupin,” Sirius began, “you’re a bloody legend! You beat that git into a pulp!” He cheered and clapped.

“Siruis!” James, Lily and Peter reprimanded.

“And you broke his wand!” Sirius spoke hurriedly. Remus fought his laughter and smiled at Sirius, “and you _froze_ him! I fucking love you!”

As soon as the words left his mouth, furrowed eyebrows and smiles dropped. Sirius threw his hand to cover his mouth but it was too late, the words were there out in the open. He slowly turned to face James and glared at his smiling friend, “too late to take it back, Padfoot,” James smiled smugly.

Sirius turned to face Peter and received the same smile, “he’s right.”

Sirius then, desperately, looked over James to Lily. “Sorry, Black, on your own. Come on guys, let’s leave them to talk.” Lily took James’ arm and pulled him and Peter towards the exit of the common room, leaving Sirius and Remus alone.

Remus’ eyes had not left Sirius since he said what he said, and Sirius’ usual confidence had left him. “You love me?” Remus asked quietly.

He gulped and looked to Remus, and nodded his head, “I do.”

Remus felt the panic rise in his chest and he did the first thing he thought of. No, not kiss him. He picked up the cushion next to him and threw it at Sirius, along with the water in his glass. Remus quickly stood up and covered his mouth and nose as he stared at the soaking Sirius. He was blinking quickly, he licked his lips and sniffled. “What the _hell_ was that?” Sirius whispered.

“I panicked,” Remus’ voice was muffled from his hands.

Sirius blinked again, “you _panicked_?”

Remus nodded, “I’m so sorry.”

Through his wet hair, he stared at the red-faced boy in front of him and a smile reached Sirius’ lips. “I love you.”

“I love you,” Remus breathed, his hands dropping from his face. And instead of throwing anything at the smiling boy, he took a couple of steps forward and gulped as they stood centimetres apart. He raised a shaking hand to rest again Sirius’ cheek, they both melted into the touch and their eyes told them what they needed know. “I love you, so much, Sirius.” Remus watched intently as Sirius’ eyes glistened, and his smile grew, before Sirius’ hands found their way around Remus’ neck and back, pulling him closer. Their foreheads rested against each other’s, the only sound was that of their quick breaths, before Sirius slowly and softly closed the gap – pressing his lips against Remus’.


End file.
